Setting Boundaries

I've been struggling the last few days to write.  I knew something was bothering me but I couldn't put my finger on it. And last night I couldn't sleep past 5 am. So I prayed about it and realized that I was feeling hemmed in, that there were personal boundaries which were being crossed and I felt that I had little say in what was happening.

So I had to practice some recovery skills and look after myself by setting a boundary, even if only in my own mind and spirit. 

I'm a Christian.  There, I've said it.  I'm a conservative, evangelical, traditional Christian and I'm allowed to believe what I believe without being labeled intolerant, delusional, arrogant or any of those other things associated with the stereotype  most folks have of religious people.

I'm not religious; I just happen to believe the Bible is true.  Every word.  

Because I believe every word, it makes me more accepting, not less - for Jesus Himself hung around those people who were considered the "low-lifes" of His day: prostitutes, alcoholics, tax-collectors, and (yes, even in His day) zealots.  Yet (although He had a great deal to say about hypocrites) He didn't turn away those in the religious community who were seeking the truth either.  

Because I believe every word, I have a definite problem with the idea that the church should espouse the world's value system and accomplish its ends using the world's methods such as promotions, benefit concerts, contests where someone wins a prize for bringing the most people to church, or even the idea that we should get organized and write our members of parliament about some "great moral injustice" or other.  

The founders of the church never tried to effect political or social change.  They just lived and told the message that set them free inside.  They knew that their world was just going to get worse and worse; this was a given.  Their job wasn't to change the world.  It was to be a light in the darkness, shining and pointing the way to the Master.

When a person humbly and honestly asks the God of the universe to reveal Himself in a personal way, He will do so in a way that is tailor-made to the individual who asks.  Some people might start with a concept of Him that is far removed from what He's really like.  I don't really think He cares about that.  What He cares about is bringing that person ... and this might take years ... into a relationship with Him.  Once He does, He never gives up on it.  A change begins on the inside which takes over more and more of the person's character, and manifests from the inside out.

The more intimately that person gets to know Him, the more the God who reveals Himself to him or her will resemble the One who walked in Galilee nearly 2000 years ago. I'm convinced of this.